This tutorial shows how to extract an image out of a photo. By saving the image as a png it can be used to do some very creative things with. Flowers are often extracted & used as embellishments.

In this tutorial, we will learn how to extract the cat & her kitten out of the distracting box. 

1. Open your image in Photo Editor and prepare it for use:
2. Choose Save As

3. Select Save as type as PNG - Portable Network Graphics file. Saving it as a png preserves the transparent background and allows you to place it anywhere. If it is saved as a jpeg file, it will have a white background & isn't as flexible for future uses.

4. Click Save.
5. Crop the image close to what you want to extract/leave.

6. In the Object Palette, (if it isn't on the right side, go to View | Object Palette) Double click on the white mask next to the image to activate it. 

7. Down in the bottom right of the Object Palette, click on this Edit Mask (Image Visible) icon. This will allow you to be able to edit the mask while seeing the picture under it. 

8. Select the paintbrush tool in toolbar in the Create section. Click on the color chooser in the toolbar in the Colors section. Change the color to black & click OK.

9. In the toolbar for the brush settings:

   1. Just to the right of 'Done', use the pull down menu slide the hardness setting to the left. This will soften the brush setting.

   2. Change the Brush size to about 40 px.

   3. Change the Opacity to 100%  

10. Use the brush to roughly go around the image, making sure to stay far enough away from the image. The reason that the gray & white checkerboard squares are showing up is because the background underneath is transparent.  

11. Continue brushing away the outside area of the image. This should go fast. Do not worry about getting close to the image that you want to keep, the next few steps we will fix that. Make sure that there aren't any stray pixels. (This is parts of the photo remaining in the outside area.)

12. In the toolbar, in the Navigate Section, zoom in by changing the % in the box to 115 or a larger number than what was in there.

13. Next, let's go get a smaller brush to get closer to the image. In the toolbar, change the brush to a smaller size by typing it in, or using the pull down menu & moving the slider to the left.  

14. Carefully erase around the object using small strokes. Working in small sections makes it easier to use undo. (Undo's keyboard shortcut is ctrl - z for a fast fix.) With the fur, I found that clicking near the border of the cat & going around her maintained the effect of the fur. This is the most time consuming part, but worth it This is what the mask looks like in the Object palette. Note that the area all around the image is masked out (in other words, darkened in and obscured from view).  

15. When you're finished with your photo, choose File | Save. You now have a png image that can be placed anywhere on your work and you can place whatever background behind it.